C100: Worth buying with Ninja 2 or new lens?

Curnsie

Well-known member
So I'm about to pull the trigger and buy a C100 along with a Ninja 2 or Hyperdeck Shuttle 2. I have 2 questions, should I purchase either:

1. C100 with either external recorder listed above: Will 4:2:2 benefit me that much? A lot of the footage I've watched from the C100 has been internally recorded 4:2:0 and looks amazing. My main area of work is corporate / commercial promotional videos. I'm upgrading from using a 550D / 5d Mk2 level cameras to give you an idea of where I'm launching from.

2. C100 with 24-105mm F4 L lens. I currently own 70-200 F4 L and a Tamron 17-55mm VC II lens the latter I believe will work wtih the C100 (?). Will there be major vignetting problem from the Tamron?

Thanks in advance for your expert opinions. Btw my budget is limited to one or the other of the above.

Can't wait to get my hands on this camera...

Drew.
 
All I can speak to is the Tamron. My 17-55 non-VC Tamron does not vignette on my C100. It's the lens I use most of the time.
 
All I can speak to is the Tamron. My 17-55 non-VC Tamron does not vignette on my C100. It's the lens I use most of the time.

Great I was hoping that as I really want to keep it for low light environments and the photography on my old 550d (t2i).
 
get the lens. A good lens with the focal lengths that will fit your shooting style will do more image wise for you than a small bump in color space or whatever. Your 17-50 will work but let it be known that while it's a decent focal range for some stuff that sometimes you want just a bit more. Call it a walk around lens if you like. The 24-105 is a great lens for the C100. Forget that it's an F4 lens and know that this camera can hit that high ISO like no other. Hell, yesterday I used it on a shoot inside a studio while shooting Playmate Miss May 2012. I was doing BTS stuff and the studio was darkened obviously. I shot at 6400 ISO at about F5.6-F8 without issue.:
Ungraded
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A lens will give you more opportunities than the recorder will.

I'm about to head out with my C100 and the Sigma 18-250mm for a walkabout. Not the greatest cine/video lens but I get insane flexibility from it. THe speed of lenses are of no concern to me with the C100 due to the high ISO performance.
 
Apart from that famous video http://vimeo.com/54325017 where you can see for yourself, a user here pointed out that the internal codec starts getting stressed in fast moving shots, crazy detailed establishing shots, lots of colours crammed together and fabrics shots. I am guessing an external recorder would also help in high iso shots where artifacts begin to appear more clearly in less than ideally lit seamless backgrounds. On the other hand it would introduce more noise as there would be no noise reduction which happens internally. Lastly, it would be essential for pulling keys.

I would consider the Atomos over the Blackmagic as it starts and stops recording according to the C100, has timecode too, if you need that (check this review here http://www.pauljoy.com/gear/camera-accessories/atomos-ninja-2-review-with-canon-c100/ ). It also has a screen :)

You can always get a recorder later on, but I'll bet you'll miss the glass from day one.
 
get the lens. A good lens with the focal lengths that will fit your shooting style will do more image wise for you than a small bump in color space or whatever. Your 17-50 will work but let it be known that while it's a decent focal range for some stuff that sometimes you want just a bit more. Call it a walk around lens if you like. The 24-105 is a great lens for the C100.

A lens will give you more opportunities than the recorder will.

Yeah the 24-105 F4 is def my choice because of the low light capabilities of the C100 ... but i use the Tamron on my 550d for photographs quite often in situations with rubbish light. I might be better with the 24-70 f2.8.

I read a post just now about how the C100 internal codec can struggle on wide shoots with a lot of movement - think nature / water. This is where I would benefit from 220mb/s of the Ninja 2. i just finished 2 projects recently involving a lot of this type of content and it was hard to look at because the 550d video was mush! Again I'm open to opinions on this!!
 
You can always get a recorder later on, but I'll bet you'll miss the glass from day one.

Yeah I love the look I get from my Canon 70-200 F4 L so this is a tough one... The 24-105 F4 L is very tempting.

I suppose could sell my Tamron and put some cash towards the Ninja 2.

Thanks for the links btw.
 
TBH I didn't notice it as much as I thought I would, perhaps Vimeo compression covers it up?

Well, this makes for two points. One, there is not much difference to start with and two, if your work is going to be compressed or put to vimeo you don't have to worry about higher bitrates. If you really want to see a difference you could download the original file, it's right there on the vimeo page, and play it on your tv set. I did so on my 50" plasma and I advise you not to waste your time. Check that video again, go to 1:31 (blue background) and notice the edges (the shirt). That's 4:2:2. As I said earlier, it's essential for pulling keys.

Get the lens man!
 
Check that video again, go to 1:31 (blue background) and notice the edges (the shirt). That's 4:2:2. As I said earlier, it's essential for pulling keys.

Get the lens man!

That's where I noticed the biggest difference before.

Yes boss! lol
 
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